Training of 60 teachers in Ukraine
In June, Sounds of Change trainers Lucas Dols and Sander van Goor returned to Ukraine to lead a week of training for teachers. Together with local trainer, musician and Sounds of Change Academy alumna Kateryna Kudasheva, they led two intensive three-day training programs in Uzhgorod.
Over the course of the week, the team worked with 60 Ukrainian teachers, each representing a different school. The training sessions focused on trauma awareness, creating safe classroom environments, and offering psychosocial support. Teachers practised practical techniques using music, art, movement, breathing and dialogue; methods they can immediately use and help stabilise and reduce symptoms of trauma and stress among their students.
One of the highlights was working with Boomwhackers – colourful percussion instruments that make music-making accessible, inclusive, and engaging. Thanks to the generous support of the Shams Rumi Foundation, every participant received a full set of Boomwhackers, ensuring they could bring these joyful tools back to their own classrooms. In total, we distributed 1,600 Boomwhackers to teachers who work at 60 different schools across the region.
The impact of the program was powerfully felt. In the words of participants:
“This training opened my eyes to the fact that change starts with me. I now have the courage to act where I once stayed silent.”
“I realised how powerful we are when we unite. This training gave me not just knowledge, but strength.”
“It felt like someone finally gave me the tools to voice what I had always carried inside. That is priceless.”
We are deeply grateful to our partners, supporters, and especially the teachers who joined us with such openness and courage. Together, we continue to make change—one step, one classroom, one song at a time.
This training program is part of a long-term project, initiated in collaboration with Tayisiya Symohko, regional coordinator of all Ukranian mental health program in the Zakarpattia region, Dorcas and the Lerak Foundation. The next step will be in December, when we will continue working more deeply with a selected group of participants, preparing them to become local trainers who can spread this work further in Ukraine. We will keep you posted.
In the meantime, we are running training programs in North East Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon.
